Process of producing and forming twisted filaments from viscose or similar material.



PATENTED JAN. 14, 1908.

C. A. ERNST. PROCESS OF PRODUCING AND FORMING TWISTED FILAMENTS FROMVISOOSE 0R SIMILAR MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 17, 1906.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. ERNST, OF LANSDOWNE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO SILAS W.PETTIT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING AND FORMING TWISTED FILAlMENTS FROM VIS SDIILARMATERIAL.

COSE on I No. 876,533.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan.- 14, 1908.

Application filed January 17. 1906- I Serial No. 296.492;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. ERNST, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Lansdowne, State of Pennsylvania, have lnventedcertain new and useful Improvements in the Process of Producing andFormmg Twisted Filaments from Viscose or Similar Material, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

In forming threads of what is known as artificial silk or similarmaterial, it is common to eject the viscose or other similar viscoussubstances into a fixing or coagulating solution through a spinneretprovided with a plurality of small apertures, the spinneret being givenatthe same time a rotary motion, whereby the filaments are wrapped ortwisted about each other as they traverse the coagulating bath. Thethread so formed is then subjected to any further chemical treatment andis washed and dried in any suitable manner. Thetwisting together of thefilaments in the coagulating bath is undesirable, however, since inaddition to being easil broken by such twisting, the newl forme completey or thoroughly acted upon by the fixing solution and the tendency ofthe filaments is to mat or stick to each other, which greatly diminishesthe quality and the ap pearance of the finished thread.

The object of my invention is to treat the thread both in the bathand inthe latter steps of the process in an untwisted condition such as isdisclosed in my United States Patent, No. 808,148, of December 26, 1905,and to postpone the step of spinning or twisting the filaments togetheruntil the end of the process of forming the same, whereby eachindividual filament will be more thoroughly acted upon by the chemicalsand by the baths in which the filaments are washed whereby a strongerand better product is obtained. I

A further object of my invention is to so wind the thread as it emergesfromthe coagulating bath upon the spools on which it is treated in thevarious succeeding steps of the process and from which it is unwound andconducted to the twisting machine, that abroken filament may be easilydetected.

A further object of my invention is, to so spin the thread that a brokenfilament will not accumulate on the spool from which 1t filaments areoften not is being unwound, but will, in the majority of cases, be cauht and carried along and spun together with the unbroken filamentswithout necessitating the stopping of the spinning machine or anymanipulation on the part of the operator.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 indicatesa spool,

drum or ring upon which the untwisted thread of artificial silk is woundas it emerges from the fixing bath, u on which it is subjected to anyfurther 0 emical action, such as a further fixing, a bleaching, orawashing of the same, and from which it is conducted to the twistingmachine; Fig. 2 shows my improvedprocess of twisting together untwistedfilaments.

The steps employed by me in the manufacture of What is commonly known asartificial silk are as follows :.The viscose or similar material isforced in a plurality of strands or filaments from a cap or plateperforated with a number of very small 0 enings into a coagulating orfixing bath an the several filamentsso formed are collected into asingle untwisted thread which is conducted to a rotating spool orcylinder upon which it is wound by means of any suitable traversemechanism. The filaments so Wound are then subjected, while on thespool,to the various succeeding ste s of the process and are then washedand ried on the spool. By means of these steps the filaments arethoroughly. changed into a strong brilliant thread of artificial silk.The untwisted thread is then unwound and conducted directl to a twistingmachine of any suitable description, whereby the filaments are boundtogether and a finished twisted thread is produced.

In attempting toconduct an untwisted thread from the s' 001 or bobbinupon which it is wound direct y to the twistingmachine,1

I have found that when one of the filaments I s indle 7.

which the untwisted thread is laid in such a manner that the individualturns or convolutions of the thread will cross those of the precedingcourse at a fairly sharp angle. The spool when wound, will present a netor open mesh appearance as plainly indicated in Fig.

.1. This open mesh winding maybe accomplished by a variety of knownwinding mechanisms in which the traverserod by which the thread is laidon the spool is given a comparatively rapid movement or reciprocation.In other words, the spool is rotated but a few times, while the traverserod is given a single reciprocation. T his results in each convolutionor turn of a course of the thread on the spool being laid at aconsiderable distance from the preceding turn or convolution in the samecourse. In Fig. 1, the distance between the difl'erent convolutions isindicated by the numeral 2. The spool 1 'is positively driven in anysuitable manner to deliver the thread through the guide eye 3 in thethread-board 4 to the thread guide 5 in the flier 6, which is secured toand is positively rotatedby the The spindle 7 is rotated through t ewhirl 8, belt 9, and tin roller 10 of the twisting machine.

11 indicates the traverse or builder form which is reciprocatedvertically in an y direction parallel to the spindle by any suitablebuilder mechanism, (not shown) by which a reci rocatory motion iscommunicated to the bob in 12 loosely mounted on both said traverse formand said s indle. The thread passing through the t read guide 5 is woundupon the bobbin 12 as fast as the same is delivered from the bobbin 1 asis usual in twistin machines. v

so locate the s ool 1 with respect to the thread-board 4 an I make thethread guide 3 of so large a size that the twist imparted to the threadb the flier 6 will not. terminate at said threadcard, but will extendfrom the thread guide 5 at the end of the flier up through said guideeye 3 to the surface of the spool from which the thread is beingdelivered. The result of this construction is that should one of thefilamentsv become broken during any of the ste s of the process asinallow the same to accumulate on the spool. If, however, such filamentbe not caught, its accumulation on the spool will be in substantiallyconcentric parallel courses and can be readily distinguished from theuntwisted threads which are laid at a considerable angle to a planenormal to the axis of the spool.

While I have described a construction in which the ring or spool ispositively driven and in which the bobbin is dragged around the spindlebythe thread being'twisted, my invention contemplates the employment ofany suitable twisting mechanism in which the twisting extends back thewhole length of the thread up tothe point of its delivery from thesurface of the bobbin or spool from which it is being unwound, and inwhich the twisting together of the unbroken filaments at the surface ofthe s ool will nip or bind in and carry along any oose end or filamentthat may have been broken during the proccess of twisting.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protectby Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The process of forming a twisted thread of artificial silk, whichconsists in winding upon a spool a thread consisting of a plurality ofuntwisted filaments, conducting said thread from said spool to asuitable spinning head, and simultaneously twisting the same for theentire distance between the spinning head and the point of the deliveryof the thread from the spool.

2. The method of forming a twisted thread of artificial silk, or similarmaterial, which consists in forming a thread com osed of untwistedparallel continuous aments, winding said untwisted filaments in 0 encourses upon spools, and thennnwin ing said untwisted thread, andsimultaneously twisting the same from the point where it leaves thespool, to catch any loose end or broken filament and bind it in with theunbroken filaments while they are being twisted together.

3. The process of forming a twisted thread of artificial silk, whichconsists in winding in separated convolutions upon a spool a threadconsisting of a plurality of untwisted lilaments, conducting said threadfrom said spool to a suitable twisting head, and twisting said threadthe entire distance between said twisting head and the point where itleaves the spool.

4. The process of twisting a thread composed of a plurality of untwistedfilaments, which consists in unwinding said thread from a spool uponwhich it is wound in separated convolutions, twisting said thread forthe entire distance between said head and the point where the threadleaves the spool, whereby any loose or broken filaments will be caughtby the unbroken filaments being twisted as they leave the spool, and thetwisting of all the filaments will be continued without any interruptionof the twisting operation. y

5. The method of twisting filaments into a twisted thread, whichconsists in windin a thread composed of substantially para el anduntwisted filaments upon a spool, with each convolution of a courseseparated by a considerable distance from the other convolutions in thesame course, delivering said thread from said spool directly to asuitable twisting machine and twisting the samefor .the entire distancebetween the twisting mechanism and the surface of the spool, whereby anyloose or broken filament is caught at its point of delivery fromsaidspool by the unbroken filaments as they are' twisted at said point.

6. In the twisting of athread composed of substantially paralleluntwisted filaments, the method of preventing the separation of a brokenfilament from the rest of the filaments forming the thread, whichconsists in condirectly to a twisting mechanism and twistducting theuntwisted thread from the spool ing the thread the entire distancebetween the twisting mechanism and the surface of ool. n the twisting ofa thread composed of long untwisted filaments wound u on a spool themethod of catching and bin ing in the s a -brol en end, which consistsin twisting to-- gether the unbroken filaments at the point where thesame leave the surface on which they are wound and from which they arebeing delivered.

